Water Balloons and Three Legged Races
by Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: Pearl had never gone to the annual picnic. Written for Take Your Fandom to Work day.


As Pearl stood in line, back straight and her hands at her sides, the instructor announced that the annual Hapkido picnic would be this Saturday, sign up if you want to bring food. He then had the class bow to the flags and the highest ranking instructor before letting them go.

Pearl had never gone to the picnic, not having a concrete reason as to why. It would be fun to go, though she didn't have any idea as to what would happen since she had never gone. Her only experiences with picnics were when she was a child and walking to a park with her elementary school classmates at the end of the year, before school was let out. That had a playground and there was a hill that you could lay down and roll, feeling woozy but happy and covered with grass stains at the bottom.

Truth be told she was a little nervous. But she had been nervous when she asked Sheena to be her girlfriend, and that turned out really great.

When Pearl asked said girlfriend if she was going to the picnic Sheena had enthusiastically said yes and listed off the various baked goods she had brought to the picnic over the years. Sheena immediately offered to take Pearl to the picnic and that solved the majority of Pearl's nervousness.

On the day of the picnic, on a sweltering hot day, Sheena's motorcycle transported both of them to the park, Pearl wearing a backpack that was holding the brownies Sheena was bringing and the liter of soda Pearl was bringing. They found the area in the park where the picnic was held and there were many people from their dojo and other dojos mingling. There were kids running around with water guns and adults that were eating or trying to organize activities for the kids.

At first Pearl was still nervous at being here, but then she got roped into helping out with the pinata control; keeping the kids from running for stray candy and accidentally getting hit on the head with the staff used to break open the cardboard. Sheena was managing who got to hit the pinata, and at the tenth kid the pinata broke open cleanly and candy fell to the ground, making a swarm of children pounce for the treats.

After that everyone stood on opposite sides of a line and Pearl found herself tossing a water balloon to Sheena, in a contest where the last team with their water balloon still intact would win. The water balloon bounced out of Pearl's hands and burst, but she didn't mind the water splashing all over her. It was a nice cool-off for the heat but unfortunately she was dry about ten minutes later.

Then there was a race with everyone split up into teams, the kids only having to run to an adult on the other side of the field once because it was so hot. Pearl was one of the adults standing as a goal post of some sort. Sheena was on the other team and playfully said that the entire thing could be determined by who won in a sparring match. Pearl replied in an equal joking manner that she could defeat Sheena easily.

Pearl had to participate in the three legged race because her team had two mysteriously missing members (two kids that decided water guns were more fun) and had to team up with an instructor. She fell once on the way back and the instructor half carried half dragged her to the end because she couldn't get her balance back.

The activities ended with the adults versus the kids in a game of Tug-o-War. On the last round Pearl was sure they were going to win but then the Master "betrayed" the adults and switched to the kids' side, yanking on the rope and the adults stumbling and losing. It was almost time for the picnic to be over by that time and people were slowly leaving. Pearl and Sheena had managed to grab some cupcakes that were left over from lunch and settled down at one of the tables with them.

Her hands ached from the rope and she was tired from running around but Pearl smiled at Sheena as they ate their cupcakes. She hoped that next year's picnic would be just as fun.

**A/N: Originally posted on AO3 on July 10 2017**

**Unlike Pearl, I've been going to my dojo's annual picnics since I started Hapkido. It's kind of funny to see how my role has changed from running around with a water gun to helping out with the games for the kids.**


End file.
